About the Book

This book deals with the urges and aspirations of some ethnic communities to acquire, through socio-political movements, some measure of control over societal resources like political power, economic endowment and social status. Their goals vary from total independence to degrees of autonomy within the constitutional federal framework. Some movements have arrived at their consummation: the Mizo settling for a state when they had aimed at independence and the Jharkhand movement winning a state of the same name. A few others are still struggle-locked wayfaring: for the Naga movement some light is visible at the end of the tunnel; the Bodo movement remains tied in knots; and the J&K imbroglio seems to have acquired an awesome intractability.

In this book, the Indian Constitution is visualised as an architecturally multi-faceted modern edifice of accommodative versatility. Given the will and capability of political management, the multiplying demands of a tumultuous polity are not difficult of being lodged therein. It is emphasised that realisation of the potential of the now constitutionally-mandated radical panchayat system is essential for a comprehensive harmony of the total architectural design of a federal India.

What lends the book a unique and authentic flavour is the fact that the author has been an active participant in Jharkhand, Bodo and Naga movements on both sides of the divide—officially on the authority’s side but emotionally and morally on the protagonists’ side.

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Contents

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About the Author / Editor

Bhupinder Singh has devoted the best part of his career in the Indian Administrative Service (1956-89) to the cause and study of the weaker sections of the society. During his active service, he made significant contribution to the evolution of policies, strategies, concepts, etc., in tribal affairs generally and tribal development particularly. After retirement, notably, he has been responsible in the main for drafting the reports of three important committees set up by the Government of India: as a member of the Committee on Jharkhand Matters (1990), as chairman of the Three-Members Expert Committee on Plains Tribes of Assam (1992) and as an expert member of the Committee of MPs and Experts for Law on Extension to Scheduled Areas of the Provisions of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment. The three reports have paved the way for a more satisfying configuration and administration of parts of federal India through legislative and administrative action.

Currently, he is a member of the Second Commission on Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Areas appointed by the Government of India recently.

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